Mating Nuc Entrance Standard

The entrance standards used on Leicestershire and Rutland BKA mating nucleus bee hives and those used on the mating nucs of Dave Cushman, along with an adaptor block that allows the use of a 50 mm diameter disc entrance.

Entrance lips... The design of this part is due to John Groocock.
I have used it to maintain standardisation between my mating nucs and those of L&RBKA.

The right hand diagram shows how the lips are placed in relation to the entrance
in the L&RBKA Nuc. The white colouration is due to the originals that John Groocock made
being made from a white plastic material. The ones that I have made used a type of marine
plywood that was about 5.5 mm in thickness.

The nuc box wall is 9 mm exterior grade plywood and in the L&RBKA version is
treated with micro porous brown stain. My own nucs are treated with raw linseed oil and the
entrance holes are 16 mm diameter.

Those items made from aluminium sheet are held in place by slightly bending the
part so that it binds on the slot formed between the entrance lips
and the box wall.

There are various types of
Disc Entrances available, either proprietary or
home made and so the adaptor block illustrated below was designed to cater for their
use with these types of mating box.

The block should be made
from tight grained hardwood or hardwood plywood

Use an M2.5 CSK bolt and
nut with washers to fit a 50 mm diameter disc entrance.

The whole assembly sides into the entrance lips from the left. The view at furthest right (or the lower of the two on small screens) shows the block with a disk fixed in place using a nut and countersunk screw.